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The Sd.Kfz. 8 had a ladder frame chassis. Power was provided by a Maybach 12-cylinder, water-cooled, 8.52 litre (520 cu in) HL 85 TUKRM gasoline engine of 185 horsepower (188 PS). It had a semi-automaticZF transmission with four forward and one reverse gears. The driver selected the desired gear and initiated the shift by depressing the clutch. It had two fuel tanks, one of 40 litres (11 US gal) and the other of 210 litres (55 US gal) capacity.[1]

Both tracks and wheels were used for steering. The steering system was set up so that shallow turns used only the wheels, but brakes would be applied to the tracks the farther the steering wheel was turned. The drive sprocket had rollers rather than the more common teeth. The rear suspension consisted of six double roadwheels, overlapping and interleaved in the usual Schachtellaufwerk system used for German half-track vehicles, mounted on swing arms sprung by torsion bars. An idler wheel, mounted at the rear of the vehicle, was used to control track tension. The front wheels had leaf springs and shock absorbers.[1]

The upper body had a crew compartment with three bench seats, one for the driver and his assistant, and two others for the crew. The rear cargo area contained storage compartments, one on each side and two in the rear. The windshield could fold forward and was also removable. A convertible canvas top was mounted above the rear storage compartments. It fastened to the windshield when erected.[2]

The Sd.Kfz. 8 was initially designed to have a towing capacity of 12 tonnes (12 long tons; 13 short tons), but the wartime DB 10 could tow 14 tonnes (14 long tons; 15 short tons).[3]

Preliminary design of all the German half-tracks of the early part of the war was done by Dipl.Ing. Ernst Kniepkamp of the "Military Automotive Department" (Wa Prüf 6) before the Nazis took power in 1933. His designs were then turned over to commercial firms for development and testing.[4]Daimler-Benz had been working on its own half-track design during 1931—32, the ZD.5. It weighed 9.3 tonnes (9.2 long tons; 10.3 short tons), used a twelve-cylinder, 150 horsepower (150 PS) MaybachDSO 8 gasoline engine and its upper body had three bench seats behind the driver. Its suspension was based on the World War I-era Marienwagen II and bore absolutely no relation to the interleaved roadwheels and torsion bars used by the various models of the Sd.Kfz. 8.[5]

Daimler-Benz combined the best of both designs in the DB s7 prototype which appeared in 1934. It used the same engine as the ZD.5, but otherwise bore little resemblance to the older model other than an upper body that had two bench seats for the crew behind the driver's seat. This upper body remained the same over the life of the Sd.Kfz. 8. It weighed 14.4 tonnes (14.2 long tons; 15.9 short tons) and could pull loads of 12 tonnes (12 long tons; 13 short tons). An improved version was introduced in 1936 as the DB s8. The heavier (15 tonnes (15 long tons; 17 short tons)) DB 9 model appeared in 1938. It used the Maybach HL 85 TUKRM engine, could carry a 800 kilograms (1,800 lb) payload and could tow a 14 tonnes (14 long tons; 15 short tons) load. Daimler-Benz tried unsuccessfully to use their dieselOM 48/1 engine, but it was repeatedly rejected by the Army Weapons Office. The DB 10 was a refined version of the DB 9 and was introduced in October 1939 and was produced for the duration of the war.[6]

Ten 8.8 cm Flak 18anti-aircraft guns were mounted on pedestals on DB s8 and DB 9 chassis in 1939 as the 8.8 cm Flak 18 (Sfl.) auf Zugkraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz. 8) for anti-tank duties. A gun shield was provided for the 88, but the gun crew had no other protection. The driver's cab was replaced by a lower, armored cupola and the engine compartment was lightly (14.5 millimetres (0.57 in)) armored. The vehicle weighed 20 tonnes (20 long tons; 22 short tons), was 7.35 metres (24.1 ft) long, 2.8 metres (9.2 ft) tall and 2.65 metres (8.7 ft) wide.[7] The gun could fire directly ahead without any problem, but traverse was limited to 151° to each side by the gun shield. Elevation was between -3° and +15°. All ten were assigned to the first company of the anti-tank battalion Panzerjäger-Abteilung 8 which participated in the Invasion of Poland in 1939, the Battle of France in 1940 and Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The company was redesignated as Panzerjäger-Kompanie ("Anti-Tank Company") 601 in January 1942 and then as the third company of Anti-Tank Battalion 559 the following April. It reported that the last three vehicles had been lost by March 1943.[8]

Daimler-Benz and Krupp were the main builders of the Sd.Kfz. 8 during the war, but Krauss-Maffei produced 315 in 1940—41 and Škoda joined in the last years of the war. 1615 were on hand on 20 December 1942. 507 were built in 1943 and 602 in 1944. Approximately 4000 were built in total.[9] The Sd.Kfz. 8 was used by Czechoslovakia after the war, but it is not known if production continued at Škoda or when they were finally discarded.[3]

Unlike most of the other German half-tracks, the Sd.Kfz. 8 was almost always used as a tractor for heavy artillery pieces and was not modified for other roles.[10]